A red flag was thrown late in Thursday's preliminary night of the 54th annual Knoxville Nationals. Brown was running second and had an opportunity to steal a victory from leader Sam Hafertepe Jr.

That was the good news. The bad was that Brown only had three tear offs left with six laps left on the scoreboard.

"I told my guys I have three tear offs left," Brown said. "Their answer was 'just pass him and not worry about it.'

"I used a lot of tear offs in that long run at the beginning, like three a lap. I was going to have to block it with my hand or get the lead."

Brown did the latter.

For the second year in a row, Brown earned a 25-lap preliminary victory. He ripped past Hafertepe entering Turn 3 on lap 21 and drove away to score a $12,000 victory and set himself up for a good run in Saturday's A-Main.

The win gave Brown 485 points, second to leader Kerry Madsen, who finished third in the feature and has 491 markers. Paul McMahan is third with 484.

"I feel just as good as I ever did," Brown said. "Last year, I thought we could win, and we came close.

"This year, I learned a lot of things mentally that I think will help me Saturday afternoon. We are going to give it our best shot."

Jeff Swindell got the jump at the start from his pole position, with Bryan Clauson and Hafertepe following close behind.

Hafertepe asserted himself early, ducking past Clauson for second on lap 3. Four laps later, Brown, who started fifth on the grid, slid past Terry McCarl with a low move through Turn 1 to claim the fourth position.

It was a common theme for Brown.

Hafertepe assumed the point on lap 14. He caught Swindell in Turn 1 and dove under the leader at the exit of Turn 2.

Brown continued to hammer the bottom. He got another good run through the first two corners and blew past Clauson going down the backstretch and into Turn 3 on lap 15 before setting his sights on Swindell.

Hafertepe had a sizable lead wiped out on lap 19, when Kevin Swindell turned upside down in Turn 3 after his steering broke. Brown passed Swindell just before the red flag and got his lone shot at the leader.

Brown nailed the bottom of Turn 1 and showed Hafertepe his nose in Turn 2 and going down the backstretch. The leader wasn't going to give and chopped off Turn 3, forcing Brown to get out of the gas.

"I wasn't sure what Sam was going to do," Brown said. "He was going to win the race for sure if not for the red.

"He took off pretty slow, and my motor didn't take off. I was going to try a Hail Mary to get by him, and he did what he should have done and blocked the bottom."

But Brown was too good. He crushed the bottom lane through Turns 1 and 2 and pulled alongside Hafertepe on lap 21.

This time, Hafertepe had no answer. Brown had too much of a run entering Turn 3 and was able to pull the slider and take the lead.

"I'm a firm believer that to beat Donny Schatz, you are going to have to pull it off on the bottom in the A-Main," Brown said. "That is something I'm not good at.

"As a driver, you have to pedal it, run the brake and pick the throttle back up. I'm working on getting better at it. In order to beat these guys, you have to be able to do that. It's huge for my confidence knowing I can stick it down there when I need to."

Brown was gone. Meanwhile, Kerry Madsen was charging to the front and took third away from Clauson with three laps remaining.

That's how the front three stayed to the finish. Terry McCarl took fourth late, leaving Clauson fifth in the final rundown.

"I felt like I was going to run second," Brown said. "I got another good run and got beside him more. Thankfully, he didn't chop me again.

"I got in clean air and got going."

Said Hafertepe, "I thought we were really good in traffic, but I knew Brian was coming. We definitely didn't need that red. Hats off to him, he has been dominant the last two weekends and is the man to beat."